Number of High Street shoppers falls 10% in a year

A HIGH Street crisis has been confirmed with a slump in shoppers and a switch to online dealing for everything from furniture to household goods.

The number of shoppers in December fell 9.6 per cent on a year ago, footfall research by Ipsos Retail Performance found.

And total store sales of all non-food products in the three months to the end of December were down by 3.7 per cent, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Almost £1 in every £4 on nonfood purchases is now spent using websites such as Amazon.

The BRC said the annual fall in sales through bricks and mortar outlets was the biggest it has seen since it began collecting the figures five years ago.

Another study from accountants Deloitte found a 28 per cent rise in the number of retail businesses going bust in 2017 – up to 118 from 92 the year before.

The Christmas trading period has been particularly difficult for some of the UK’s most famous national chains.

Shares in Debenhams fell sharply last week on the back of poor sales and a profit warning. The pattern was repeated with Mothercare yesterday and House of Fraser is also rumoured to have had a tough Christmas.